580 BC to 530 BC; Transition from Egypt to Persia

In this organic review of the past 3,000 years of global history, each post is a preliminary sketch intended to be fleshed out by future expansion and edits, and augmented by wonderful contributions from you dear reader.

One may characterize this era as a period where the Middle Earth royal family moved back eastward toward some Mesopotamian origins, and ruled the world from a new head quarters in Persia. After the Exodus, Egypt had lost a strong portion of leadership; Palestine and later Rome would be the major beneficiaries of the northern migration of the Hebrew people.

Circa 572 BC King Zhou Jian Wang of the Zhou Dynasty passes away in China, and within two years Pharaoh Amasis II of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty in Egypt would succeed Apries Wahibre Haaibre, Fourth King of the 26th dynasty, who was also known as Waphres Hophra. Apries inherited the throne from his father, pharaoh Psamtik II, in February 589 BC.

Circa 562 BC—Amel-Marduk succeeds Nebuchadnezzar II as king of Babylon. A few years later around 559 BC King Cambyses I of Anshan dies and is succeeded by his son Cyrus II the Great.

In 550 BC, halfway through the century two momentous events would occur:

Cyrus the Great establishes the Persian Empire

Siddartha Gautama Buddha founded Buddhsim in northeastern India

By 546 BC Cyrus had captured major Greek cities, providing ports and access to the Mediterranean for his growing Persian Empire. In 540 BC King Amyntas I of Macedon is crowned. What began as a small vassal or client state of King Darius Hyspastes of Persia (Darius I), would a couple of centuries later grow to become the strongest power in the world under Alexander the Great, whose territories would include most of the Persian Empire and new lands to the west.